Delayed payments for road contractors masks bigger problem

Kenya: Reports that road contractors have declined to sign up for new projects because they have not been paid for work done is a sad reflection of the way the Ministry of Roads, Public Works and Housing and the National Treasury work.

The responsible ministries should move with speed to clear outstanding payments to ensure that the country does not miss its set development targets.

 It is unfortunate the ministry is being accused of failing to pay contractors at the very time when, together with other ministries, it is reported to have surrendered over Sh100 billion to the Treasury after failing to spend it during the last financial year.

Kenyans have routinely been told that ministries could not spend their entire allocations because of challenges to do with procurement, inadequate capacity, poor project planning and the rampant litigation by unsuccessful bidders, among others. But none of those reasons explains the ministry of roads latest failure to pay for work done.

 The recent controversy pitting county governments against the national government and the three roads authorities  — Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Kerra), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) and Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) on who among them should manage the funds meant for various roads cannot be blamed either because the unpaid bills are for work done last financial year.

 Whatever is the eventual outcome of the controversy, the Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau should come out clearly and re-assure the anxious contractors that they would get paid as provided for under the contracts they signed with the previous government.

Surely, this should not be a difficult thing to do considering that Mr Kamau was the permanent secretary in the former ministry of works under the previous government. There is a consensus that the ministry has done a commendable job in weeding out cowboy road contractors who were a disgrace to the country because of the shambolic manner in which they did their contracted work.

To be sure, there are still a few of these contractors still lurking in the shadows but they must be fully aware that their time is up.

 It would be a pity if the ministry were to handle the few good contractors badly thereby forcing them out of business for that would create the perfect opportunity for the cowboys to return.

 The hope is that the ministry is alive to the possibility that the cowboy contractors might be tempted to dust off their ageing machines and try to return on the back of the government’s programme to give 30 per cent of its contracts to women and youth.

This would be unfortunate. One way of ensuring that the country does not return to the days when a contractor would be paid for shoddy work done on the same road year-in, year-out is to strengthen the ministry’s inspection department.

If that means recruiting additional road engineers, so be it. The money they would save the country by ensuring the public gets its value for money would be much more than such engineers would earn in salaries and allowances.

 Of course, the engineers would also need to be closely supervised to ensure they do not conspire to rob the public by certifying sub-standard work for payment—as their predecessors routinely did in the not too distant past.

The key word should remain vigilance by all arms of government charged with the protection of public funds.